Chapter 59 Maeve
MAEVE
I slid the last of the candles into the homemade Snickers cake and stood back to make sure they were even.
Everything had to be perfect.
I’d been planning the surprise party for Bram ever since I‘d learned that he’d been in Romania with Poe and Remy during his birthday, and I wanted everything to be just right.
“That looks unbelievable,” Lilah said, eyeing the cake.
She looked pretty, her dark blond hair falling in waves around her face, green eyes bright to match her sweater.
“It was fun to make.”
“Are those… Snickers?” Willa asked, leaning in to get a closer look.
The baby clutched at her long blond hair, then reached for the cake with one chubby hand.
Willa laughed. “Not yet, little man.”
“Not Snickers exactly,” I said, “but same ingredients: peanuts and caramel and marshmallow instead of nougat. Bram is crazy for Snickers.”
“Oh my god, it looks sinful,” Willa said. “Definitely give that recipe to Rock.”
In the living room, Remy was talking to Jude and Drago about a book he’d just read while Nolan and Rafe talked to Neo and Rock about the restaurant. Poe was out with Bram, assigned the job of bringing him home in exactly — I checked my phone — four minutes.
Ray wound around the men, his tail wagging, happy to have more company in the loft, and music played in the background. It was April, the balcony door open a crack to let fresh air into the loft.
I was actually starting to believe it would actually get warmer, that the dark days of winter were behind us for good.
My phone dinged and I looked to find a text from Poe.
“They’re on their way up,” I told everyone.
I gathered them around the top of the stairs, shushing them to be quiet, laughing when it seemed impossible.
The door opened downstairs and I heard Bam’s deep voice, heard Poe say something to him as they started up the stairs.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been excited in a good way, and I couldn’t wait to see the look one Bram’s face when he saw everyone gathered to celebrate his birthday.
Except when he stepped into the living room, I’m pretty sure I was the one who looked surprised.
Because Bram was carrying a cat.
And not just any cat: the demon cat who’d been lurking around the loft for the last three months.
“Surprise!” everyone yelled.
The cat screeched, sprinting from Bram’s arms and disappearing down the hall with Ray on its tail.
“What the fuck?” Bram said at the same time I said, “You brought the cat into the loft?”
“He loves you,” Bram said at the same time I said, “But he hates you.”
Because I was past the point of pretending the cat liked Bram.
We laughed and he pulled me into his arms. “You did this for me?”
I looked up at him. “I wanted you to have a birthday party. You brought the cat in for me?”
“I wanted you to have a demon cat. There are cat supplies in the car. That’s what Poe and I were doing.”
I smiled up at him. “I really really love you.”
“I really really love you.”
Everyone jeered when he kissed me, and Rock yelled, “Get a room.”
Then it was a flurry of food and and laughter, the loft overflowing with conversation and music, Ray tearing through the place after the terrified cat, the Kings’ and Willa’s son toddling after them both.
“I can’t believe you did this for me,” Bram said.
“She’s been working on it for weeks,” Remy said, taking a bite of the cake.
“The only way I could get him away from the house was to agree to buy supplies for the demon cat,” Poe said.
“You did good,” I said. “All of you.”
“We’re a good team,” Bram said, dropping a kiss on my mouth. “And now I”m going to demolish more of that cake.”
I watched him leave, Poe and Remy melting back into the living room with our guests.
He’s right, M. You are a good team.
I think so too, I told June.
Are you happy?
I swallowed my sadness, because yeah, I was happy. Happy for the first time in a long time. But happiness after June would never be the same as happiness before June and that was something I was still learning how to live with.
I am. Are you?
I’m at peace, M. I really am.
Will you still come around? Now that Ethan is gone?
It was the thing I hadn’t dared to say out loud: that maybe June would leave when Ethan finally got what was coming to him.
I’ll always be here. Always. Just live your life, M. I’ll be right here if you need me.
I think I actually believed it.
Nothing was ever guaranteed. I still didn’t know how my parents would handle my new life with the Butchers, and I know firsthand that anything could happen.
But watching the three men who’d barreled into my life wearing masks and carrying knives, I knew I had all the certainty that mattered.
Because I had them.
All of them.
And that meant I had everything.
Thanks so much for reading Claim the Dark and the entire Blackwell Butchers’ series.